The folks at Gawker are reporting anecdotes that freelancers for Regent Media’s Out and Advocate are clamoring over unpaid fees,  some have been owed pay for over six months.

  • One writer says that The Advocate ran several of his stories in three consecutive months last fall. Despite having “pay on publication” contracts, he hasn’t gotten paid yet. He also says that despite some “sympathetic correspondence from some of the editorial staff,” the publisher is neither showing any urgency to pay, nor communicating with him.
  • Another freelancer says he is close to taking Regent to small claims court—he has invoices dating back seven months, and the company has not volunteered any timeline for when it might pay up.
  • The people talking to Gawker say they aren’t hearing anything from Regent’s HQ–where the staff of its final adult publication, Unzipped, was reportedly just let go–in terms of payment.

    Problems at Regent–or Here Media–have been brewing for over a year.  Last fall, they shut down most of their stable of adult magazines.  And in October, they announced that the Advocate would no longer be a stand-alone print publication.

    Freelancers concerned about the financial health of Regent shouldn’t be comforted by the possibility that the would stand inline with other creditors should there be a bankruptcy.  Just ask the freelancer and employees owed money by Window Media.

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